The present invention relates generally to egg producing facilities and, specifically, to such facilities for production of eggs for hatcheries and to improvements in nest pads used to protect eggs from damage during harvest in such facilities.
1. Field of the Invention
Egg production has made a quantum leap from the days when mom or grandma went to the hen house and pushed each nesting hen aside and pillaged the nest for eggs, which she deposited in an upraised corner of her apron, or in a basket for later use in feeding the family and/or replenishing the flock.
Modern egg producing facilities, and particularly such facilities which harvest eggs for hatcheries, must have significant capacity to be cost effective and today reflects the assembly line mentality in every aspect of the process, except perhaps for the hen, who takes her own sweet time to do her thing, and there is no way to put her on the clock, as one might with man.
In efficient commercial facilities, laying hens are crowded into large buildings which are replete with a staggering array of nests which flank a conveyer belt used to transport freshly laid eggs to an inspection station. Nourishment and water are ever present and near the nest, and a bevy of roosters inhabit the area in order that the hen need not want for anything.
When the hen lays an egg it rolls down a ramp onto the belt and is thereafter carried by the belt to a station, or stations, as the case may be, where it is carefully washed, because the shell is porous and bacteria must be prevented from passing into the egg; and inspected for cracks, and thereafter packaged with the small end down for delivery to a hatchery. The small end is down in order to preserve a small pocket of oxygen found in a small diaphragm at the upper end. That oxygen is what the hatching chick uses to survive during the hatching process.
2. Overview of the Prior Art
Nest pads are not new in the art as evidenced by the patent art, although such pads are, as will be demonstrated, unsuitable for use in a hatchery facility.
Typical of such pads is the unit manufactured by the Monsanto Company and represented in Mortillo U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,896. Yet another pad of the same general type is found in Dyer U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,878. These pads are representative of the type of pad over which the present invention constitutes a distinct improvement.
Similarly, modern egg producing facilities are represented in such patents as Anderson U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,186, where the bottom of the nest is inclined toward a conveyer. In Anderson, however, the conveyer is beneath the nest and not at the back thereof. Fowler U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,246 is representative of an egg harvesting system in which the eggs fall into individual pockets and are transported for processing.
The Kurtz U.S. Pat. No. 3,118,425 is directed at a shield for protecting an egg from being damaged by a hen, which would have a tendency to peck at the egg after laying it, but further illustrates the conveyer system, together with the discharge opening adjacent there to. The nest pad is a wire mesh, and a mesh guide ushers the egg to the belt.
Inherent in mechanization are problems which may be exacerbated in facilities such as are being discussed here. The essence of mechanization is efficiency and high production. Yet in a highly mechanized egg producing facility for the hatchery industry, the problems are exaggerated because things happen fast, and they are nonstop. Such problems include broken or cracked eggs which inevitably gum up the conveyor belts, or worse, when all or part of the egg gets under the belt. Additionally, there are a myriad of other bacteria-ridden by products, from manure to feathers, which cause a build up under the edges of the belt.
In consequence of such build up, the belt, which is necessarily soft so as to minimize egg damage, tends to lift at the edges and, in so doing, results in misalignment with the nests, and partially, if not entirely, blocks the free flow of eggs from the nest to the belt, with the eventual stoppage of the conveyor. Since the hens do not stop laying simply because there is a stoppage for maintenance, the problem is exacerbated, and the damage is measurable in real dollars.
With the foregoing by way of environment, it will be appreciated that a principal objective of the present invention is to minimize maintenance delays and coincident costs, including labor incident to delay or stoppage of an egg production conveyor line resulting from an accumulation of fugitive materials underneath the conveyor belt.
Another objective, closely related to the foregoing, is to minimize egg loss as a result of contamination, and disruption of operation of the conveyor in an egg production facility in consequence of the accumulation of fugitive materials beneath the edges of the conveyor. Of course, the corollary objective is to optimize production by minimizing loss to infection or damage to freshly laid eggs between the nest and the conveyor system.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to create a nest pad of such design and construction as to minimize, if not obviate, the problems inherent in the egg delivery system chronicled above so as to accomplish the objectives outlined hereinabove.
The foregoing, as well as other objects and advantages of the present invention, will become apparent from a reading of the detailed specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: